She murmured, “I’ve heard of it. There are Tingawans here. They have spoken of the custom.”
“Good. Then you say that’s what I am. That’s why I’m returning to Tingawa.”
“This man with you—who is he?”
“His name is Abasio. He is a good man and a good friend who has saved my life several times. My father trusted him.”
Abasio chose that moment to enter the room, pay his respects to Genieve, and make brief explanations. “We must get to Tingawa. The last ship is here, and we must take it. Do you have any idea where the crew or the captain may be?”
“They are staying in the building that was occupied by the shipping office when the ships came in here. Before the waters rising made everyone move. They moved the shipping office, of course, but it’s still the building nearest the piers.”
“How long ago was it that the town was moved?”
“Two years ago. The piers have been moved twice since. They are about ready to move the wooden buildings again. They will not move the stone ones again. From now on, all buildings will be built on runners that teams of beasts can move uphill. When will the water stop rising?”
Abasio shook his head, choosing to be soothing rather than truthful. “No one seems to know exactly. The people in Tingawa probably know better than we do. That’s another reason for our journey there.”
“I wish someone would find out and tell the poor people who live by the sea. It’s a wearying thing, moving a town! Everything is so strange! Some of us rode out recently, down around this arm of the mountains, to take a look at the Big Mud. You know of it?”
“A marsh, isn’t it?” Xulai asked. “I’ve seen it on maps. A huge swale, the size of a country, that accumulates rain and stream water, south of here.”
“It was a marsh, yes. Full of ducks and stilts and storks and other wetland creatures, huge, as you say. Not a good place to get lost in. It has always been separated from the ocean by a seaside desert of low dunes, smaller than those on the Great Dune Coast, but the same kind of loose sand, moving with the wind. Now, at high tide, the ocean cuts through the dunes and runs into the Big Mud. It’s no longer merely a marsh. It has become a huge shallow lake! Some of the men said it is larger in area than the Highlands of Ghastain. Each tide washes more of the dunes away.”
Genieve sounded more annoyed than troubled. Xulai followed Abasio’s lead, merely nodding while swallowing her surprise. It was better for the good lady to be annoyed than frightened to death.
There was a knock at the door, and a very wide, white-aproned woman came in, her hair done up in a twisted kerchief. “Since you said they wasn’t fussy, ma’am, I’ve warmed something up.”
“This is Mrs. Bang,” Genieve announced. “Please go with her and have a warm meal. We’ll talk again when you’ve finished, and meantime I’ll see to having rooms readied for you.”
She went away, shaking her head slightly, worrying at the idea of Justinian away somewhere, in danger. Abasio and Xulai went in the other direction.
Across the bay, on the ridge they had left only an hour or so before, a small carriage surrounded by an orderly pack of wolves arrived. Carriage and driver sat there for a moment while the driver stared at the rising waters and across at the pale blotch on the hillside that was all she could see of the white-towered building she was looking for. After a time, she detected the road to her left and she and the wolves started down the hill toward the road that led around the bay. No doubt there would be some game in those forests across the way that would feed her charges so she would not have to frighten the lady of the house.
In Ghastain, Mirami was forbidden to leave her quarters, over her vehement protests. The following morning, when the king went to question her himself, she lay on the bed, barely breathing, a terrible smell coming from her with each exhalation, like rotten meat. At first, when closed in this suite of rooms yesterday afternoon, she thought she had caught Chamfray’s illness. Then she had wondered if the illness had not been directed at them both. Briefly, she had thought of Alicia, but she knew of no poison that did this, and very shortly later she was barely conscious and could say nothing. King Gahls fidgeted and fussed; one of his advisers suggested that this felicitous coincidence be put to use and the Tingawan emissary be summoned as witness. The emissary came to see that Mirami was obviously dying; she had not even the strength to deny she had killed Xu-i-lok when the question was asked. Though Precious Wind had long ago told them the truth, the emissary pretended to be satisfied. Bear was not the only vengeance seeker who was now following Alicia on her way back to the Old Dark House. Several very highly trained attachés to the embassy were keeping both Bear and Alicia company on the way.
In Merhaven, late at night, when no one was moving about in the town, the shipping office of Tingawa in the person of the ship’s captain received a delegation: Precious Wind, whom he had met long ago; Abasio, whom he had not; Xulai, whom he knew of but had never met. The ship must be readied to leave, he was told.
“Except for food stores, the Falsa-xin is ready. It has been ready for almost twenty years,” the captain growled. “My hair was black when we arrived here. The crewmen were young. We are
